I’m launching a Patreon page in one week!

You may have seen me post on Facebook and Twitter recently that I was thinking of launching a Patreon page for FIFA Scouting Tips. Well, that day is nearly here, as I will be launching the page in one week’s time!

In case you missed it, here’s what I said on Facebook and Twitter:

I just wanted to make a quick post because I need your thoughts on something.

You might have noticed that I went a bit quiet around the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018. Basically, my life got shaken up a bit – my girlfriend broke up with me, I suffered a serious injury that I’m still recovering from, and I was having a very stressful time at work.

I just needed some time off.

Luckily I’ve been able to bounce back and get back to work on FIFA Scouting Tips. But the whole thing made me realise how hard it’s becoming to find time to sit down and write the proper, in-depth guides you want me to do.

However, at the same time I’m eternally grateful for the brilliant community of readers and gamers that has built up around my website, giving me some incredible, humbling feedback and flooding it with traffic. Your support means a huge amount to me.

In my quick reader survey, just under 50% of you said you would be willing to consider supporting FIFA Scouting Tips with a donation or Patreon contribution.

That’s an amazing amount and something I wasn’t expecting. But any support or donation, no matter how small, would go a long way to helping me devote more time to FIFA Scouting Tips and the guides I write.

Over the years I’ve ploughed thousands of hours into FIFA, writing guides and articles for the game we all love. I hope you’ve found my work useful, and that it’s made the game a little more enjoyable for you. If you feel that’s worth supporting, I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

If you were willing to support me in some form, how would you want to do it? Would you be interested in me setting up a Twitch channel with FIFA gameplay? Would you prefer to pledge something on Patreon in return for me giving you in-depth help and advice with your own FIFA careers? Or perhaps something else?

And of course I’d love to hear your feedback if you don’t think it’s something you can do right now. Is there anything I could do that would change your mind? Your feedback is something I really want to hear.

Whatever you think, please let me know in the comments.

Thanks,

Alex

I’ve now decided what I want to do with Patreon and set a launch date, so I wanted to let you know before it all gets underway.

Hang on, what’s Patreon?

Simply put, Patreon is a website that allows content creators to offer rewards to their fans, and get paid for doing it. Fans pledge a certain amount each month (it can be a little as $1), and in return they get exclusive content direct from the creator.

OK, so why are you using it?

As I’m sure you can imagine, the guides I write for FIFA Scouting Tips take a lot of time. Not only do I have to spend time researching the teams and players I write about, but I have to write engaging, interesting articles and create great images to go alongside them. Then there’s all the promotional work on social media to make sure my audience sees the work I do. All in all it takes up a huge amount of my time.

I started FIFA Scouting Tips back in 2011 as a one-page WordPress blog, and since then it’s grown into one of the best-known FIFA websites on the internet. I’ve felt for a while that, with the amount of traffic it gets, I could potentially make my living from FIFA Scouting Tips. I’ve been trying for a while to earn some money from the website, but nothing has really worked as well as I’d have liked.

Patreon, on the other hand, seems like a great idea all round. It allows fans to give directly to the content creators they follow. It means I don’t have to rely on annoying, low-paying adverts on the website. It means you get extra content as thanks for your support. It means I can continue to keep my articles free, something I’ve always strived to do. And it means I can devote more time to writing the guides you enjoy.

Right now I have to balance FIFA Scouting Tips with a full-time job and the various responsibilities I have in my life. That makes it difficult to devote as much time to writing guides as I’d like to. But with your support on places like Patreon, it’s my goal to eventually make FIFA Scouting Tips my full-time job. That way, I could devote far more time to writing the guides and articles that you love, and help more people enjoy FIFA career mode.

What kind of rewards will you be offering?

Patreon allows creators to set various different pledge tiers for their fans, and offer different rewards based on these tiers. I’ve tried to make it so that every reward tier offers something new and worthwhile. Here’s what I’m planning to offer:

Monthly pledge

Rewards

$1

• Help support FIFA Scouting Tips so I can continue creating content for FIFA and writing guides every month

$5

• Early access to my guides • Follow back and Twitter shoutout • Your name in the description of YouTube videos and on a wall of fame on the FIFA Scouting Tips website

$10

• Patreon-only large-scale poster of the best places to scout • Access to supporters Discord channel and Facebook group • Submit a question to a monthly Q&A session • Raffle - your chance to win a video game of your choice!

$20

• Monthly exclusive video giving help and recommendations for your career • Take part in monthly FIFA 1v1 viewer games • Join online seasons with me

If you do decide to support me on Patreon, THANK YOU. Your support is incredible. But don’t worry if you don’t feel you can support me at this time – I totally understand that not everyone can afford to contribute through Patreon. Every bit of support I receive means a huge amount to me, not matter what form that takes.

I’m interested. What do I do now?

Make sure you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and keep your eyes peeled for more news. I’ll be announcing the launch of my Patreon page in one week’s time (29th April).

I’d be extremely grateful if you could share this with anyone you think might be interested, and don’t forget to let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments below!

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